Sewing is coming!

Tonight I took out the sewing machine - well I didn't really take it out, it's been sitting on my dining room table collecting dust since I brought it home from my mom's.  I know how to use a sewing machine, but I don't know how to set up a sewing machine. I've never threaded the sewing machine myself.  So my first goal is to learn how to do that. 

I have a fantastic book to work with S.E.W. Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp.  Tonight I took scotch tape and labeled parts of my sewing machine.  I decided to stop after that because I was too distracted by the TV. I think this weekend I'm going to put aside a few hours on Saturday to really sit down, learn how to thread the machine and do a few sample stitches.  

It's also possible that I'll get distracted by something else and the sewing machine will sit on the dining room table for a few more weeks.  That's just who I am.    

Getting my Creative Spirit Back Through Needlepoint

Lately I feel as if I've lost all my creativity.  I can't motivate myself to start any projects.  I feel very lost.  The only thing creative I can motivate myself to do is cook..and even that wasn't so great last week (I think the majority of my meals were frozen pizzas). 

So today I decided I need to stop acting like a fat ass (seriously, along with those frozen pizzas I haven't been to the gym in over a week) and start doing.  The easiest way to get back in the game is start working on my needlepoint again.  My dad entered retirement recently and his big project is cleaning our basement.  Before everything ends up in the trash I took a look around and along with some Patterson books, I found a brand new needlepoint kit. 

Now for those of you who don't needlepoint, it's essentially the laziest way to be creative aside from paint by number.  The kit comes with all the materials and a prepainted picture.  The most difficult part is matching the yarn colors to the assorted colors on the canvas...many look exactly the same and it takes a half hour of squinting and comparing to figure out what yarn matches.  Once the frustration is over, the needlepoint stitch is super simple and actually kind of meditative.  Plus you can watch tv while doing it and it keeps you from snacking...not that I really have anything to snack on in this house (unless you enjoy snacking on dried pasta or artichoke hearts mmm). 

After 2 hours of needlepointing, I barely finished one of the leaves (the full needlepoint is a picture of roses).  The picture below isn't great..it's from my cell phone..I didn't want to bust out my camera wire to upload one photo.



I feel as if I accomplished something tonight.  The easiest way to get over procrastination is to just start working on something even if you really really really don't want to.  I need to fight my laziness before it takes over my life and I end up actually being on The Biggest Loser instead of watching it on my couch.  Gym tomorrow?  I think so.